Anthony Mason said he believes he can find the buttons to push Eddy Curry back into relevance. It’s a long shot, but so was Mason’s career that coursed through Turkey and the CBA and peaked as a key cog on the Knicks’ 1994 finals team.

As The Post reported in Wednesday’s editions, team president Donnie Walsh has enlisted Mason to work with Curry, who is rehabbing from a right hamstring injury and trying to lose weight. Mason is on a quasi-tryout and is eyeing a future job as a special instructor. If he has success with Curry, it figures Walsh will be moved to hire him.

“If you get Eddy back on the court, the sky’s the limit,” Mason said after practice yesterday. “I think if he continues to work hard, then he has the talent. With the additions that they have on the team now, you imagine getting him back on the court how he was some years ago. Along with Stoudemire and Raymond Felton and the new additions, it could be awesome.”

Pat Riley dug Mason out of the CBA, and he chiseled a terrific defensive career, chiseled phrases in his scalp and became known as one of the toughest Knicks ever. He is hoping to get a job in the league.

“I’m trying to get back into the NBA, but definitely I would love to be here,” said Mason, out of Springfield Gardens. “This was the first team that gave me an honest shot, and so I would love to be affiliated with the Knicks.”

Curry injured his hamstring on the second day of training camp after missing the entire pre-camp voluntary workouts — the last Knick to report. Curry stayed back when the Knicks went to Europe to train with Mason.

“I do a lot of drills with him, and I’m waiting until he gets a little healthier to get on the court with him,” Mason said. “But he’s been working hard.”

Why does Mason think he can harden the soft Curry?

“It’s different from a managerial to a player as it is player to a player,” Mason said. “It’s a different connection, so you feel that kind of bond. And me and Eddy are pretty much from similar backgrounds or whatever, so we talk about personal stuff and then we have formed some kind of rapport. And then when we get on the court together, it makes it a lot easier.

“I’m not going to just be like, ‘Just do this or whatever,’ ” Mason added. “Sometimes you want to know what’s bothering a person or what’s on their mind, what they want to work on, and it forms a better rapport.”

*

According to a Celtics spokesman, Shaquille O’Neal (bad hip) might play tonight in Toronto and skip the Knicks tomorrow again.